Very Strange Transmission Issues. Hard Shifts, Slip and one very weird problem.

[LightningBlue]

Hello Everyone! I haven't posted on here in quite some time, life has been busy!

This part may be unrelated/coincidental:
A few months ago I changed my battery, went out to start my truck and realized my battery was dead. Decided to throw a charger on it and started it; drove it to Costco to buy a new Interstate AGM Battery. When I reached the store my truck was acting extremely strange; power steering was on and off and I was getting all sorts of faults (I guess the truck really hated driving around on a bad battery). After installing the new battery all was good. It did lose ALL power at one point no dome light, so screen, no ignition and not response from the key for (as if the battery was disconnected). I checked all connections and couldn't find anything. All of a sudden, power on everything all good. Weird right?
Note: Battery Change did not cause any loss of settings, radio stations etc.

After the new battery comes a new issue, again this could be completely coincidental. My transmission since then has been acting very strange. I first noticed it shifting very hard from 1-3. The issue would disappear after the transmission had some time to warm up. It would happen every time the truck was sitting for a number of hours.. I would notice if I put it in Sport mode the trans would still hard shift but it would have a lagging pause before it would actually shift. The RPMs would hold at say 4k for a second or two and then BAM it would finally shift into 2nd.

I didn't think too much about it until the weirdest thing would happen. I would come to a stop at a stop light, idling fine, no indication that anything was off. Once I would start to accelerate I would get RPMs but hardly any movement, almost as if it was slipping or I had the parking brake engaged. It would do this a couple of times until I thought to check the gear indication. To my surprise the truck would be trying to start off in 7th or 8th gear! It goes between those two gears. Again, from a stop the truck is attempting to start in 7th or 8th gear! I would give it some throttle and it won't down shift, it attempts to drive in 7-8th gear from a stop and it will EVENTUALLY downshift into 3rd. I've tried different methods when I notice it stuck in a high gear at a stop: downshifting manually doesn't work. Putting it in sport mode doesn't make it downshift either. I've tried putting it in park and back into drive and that seems to make it much worse, the transmission becomes confused and starts hunting for gears, slipping and lurching as it attempts to down shift, all while not moving.

After this I took it to the dealer, they said there was a software issue and that they fixed the problem, confirmed by their trans tech. The problem is still very much there. All the same symptoms. The dealer also said I needed a brake booster sensor replaced, they wanted $700 to do it ($50 part) told them no, the still charged me $220 to diagnose the brake booster sensor even though I brought it in for Transmission issues. Whatever. So I checked it once I got it home on forscan and there seems to be no indication that the brake booster sensor is malfunctioning plus I've never had any braking issues.

I apologize for the long drawn out post but I figured the more information the better as some things might be related to the other.

TLDR: Truck hard shifts, delay shifts and stays in high gear when stopped

2019 XLT FX4
21,400 Miles

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[AzScorpion]

Sid @Msfitoy just had to replace his transmission with 95K on it. He can fill you in on all the details but IIRC it sounds like he was having similar issues that yours is having now.

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/my-perfect-ranger-with-an-imperfect-transmission.22991/

 

[LightningBlue]

The drop in RPM in the beginning is me lifting the throttle, attempting to let the transmission figure itself out

 

[9zero1790]

Hello Everyone! I haven't posted on here in quite some time, life has been busy!

This part may be unrelated/coincidental:
A few months ago I changed my battery, went out to start my truck and realized my battery was dead. Decided to throw a charger on it and started it; drove it to Costco to buy a new Interstate AGM Battery. When I reached the store my truck was acting extremely strange; power steering was on and off and I was getting all sorts of faults (I guess the truck really hated driving around on a bad battery). After installing the new battery all was good. It did lose ALL power at one point no dome light, so screen, no ignition and not response from the key for (as if the battery was disconnected). I checked all connections and couldn't find anything. All of a sudden, power on everything all good. Weird right?
Note: Battery Change did not cause any loss of settings, radio stations etc.

After the new battery comes a new issue, again this could be completely coincidental. My transmission since then has been acting very strange. I first noticed it shifting very hard from 1-3. The issue would disappear after the transmission had some time to warm up. It would happen every time the truck was sitting for a number of hours.. I would notice if I put it in Sport mode the trans would still hard shift but it would have a lagging pause before it would actually shift. The RPMs would hold at say 4k for a second or two and then BAM it would finally shift into 2nd.

I didn't think too much about it until the weirdest thing would happen. I would come to a stop at a stop light, idling fine, no indication that anything was off. Once I would start to accelerate I would get RPMs but hardly any movement, almost as if it was slipping or I had the parking brake engaged. It would do this a couple of times until I thought to check the gear indication. To my surprise the truck would be trying to start off in 7th or 8th gear! It goes between those two gears. Again, from a stop the truck is attempting to start in 7th or 8th gear! I would give it some throttle and it won't down shift, it attempts to drive in 7-8th gear from a stop and it will EVENTUALLY downshift into 3rd. I've tried different methods when I notice it stuck in a high gear at a stop: downshifting manually doesn't work. Putting it in sport mode doesn't make it downshift either. I've tried putting it in park and back into drive and that seems to make it much worse, the transmission becomes confused and starts hunting for gears, slipping and lurching as it attempts to down shift, all while not moving.

After this I took it to the dealer, they said there was a software issue and that they fixed the problem, confirmed by their trans tech. The problem is still very much there. All the same symptoms. The dealer also said I needed a brake booster sensor replaced, they wanted $700 to do it ($50 part) told them no, the still charged me $220 to diagnose the brake booster sensor even though I brought it in for Transmission issues. Whatever. So I checked it once I got it home on forscan and there seems to be no indication that the brake booster sensor is malfunctioning plus I've never had any braking issues.

I apologize for the long drawn out post but I figured the more information the better as some things might be related to the other.

TLDR: Truck hard shifts, delay shifts and stays in high gear when stopped

2019 XLT FX4
21,400 Miles

sounds like what mine is doing also. im waiting for the dealer to have a spot to look at it. im no expert but i feel like the transmission problems are mix of three things. 1. factory fluid level not correct in several trucks. 2. driveshaft balance alignment / support bearing issues 3. computer constantly trying to "learn".

its so annoying when im about to go up an incline slow speed like into a parking lot, and the truck off in lala land in 7th gear when it should be in 2nd. then comes the lag and borderline stall and rough delayed shift.

 

[Shoran12]

Interesting. I asked about issues with high rpm’s on cold starts and had that confirmed as normal with a few reasons behind it but it sounds like yours may be a bit different. I do know that disconnecting the batter clears all adaptive learning tables. I read this in the manual. Hope this gets sorted out for you. How many miles has the truck been doing this since your battery was replaced?

 

[Shoran12]

sounds like what mine is doing also. im waiting for the dealer to have a spot to look at it. im no expert but i feel like the transmission problems are mix of three things. 1. factory fluid level not correct in several trucks. 2. driveshaft balance alignment / support bearing issues 3. computer constantly trying to "learn".

its so annoying when im about to go up an incline slow speed like into a parking lot, and the truck off in lala land in 7th gear when it should be in 2nd. then comes the lag and borderline stall and rough delayed shift.

Many of our trucks do this. It’s the trans programming that wants to be in the highest gear possible for better gas mileage/emissions. My truck has done this since day 1. If I’m going up any slight incline I’ll get a rumble strip sensation if I don’t give it gas. I’d describe it as lugging since the engine rpm’s drop to 1100-1200 or so. This has gotten a bit better overtime and was better with the tank of 93 gas I ran a bit ago. You can drive in S or tow or lockout gears when in these situations. I’m told a tune helps this which may be something I consider in the future once I’ve recovered from the last set up upgrades that other 5G members were so nice to suggest ?

 

[LightningBlue]

sounds like what mine is doing also. im waiting for the dealer to have a spot to look at it. im no expert but i feel like the transmission problems are mix of three things. 1. factory fluid level not correct in several trucks. 2. driveshaft balance alignment / support bearing issues 3. computer constantly trying to "learn".

its so annoying when im about to go up an incline slow speed like into a parking lot, and the truck off in lala land in 7th gear when it should be in 2nd. then comes the lag and borderline stall and rough delayed shift.

Yeah it's annoying to say the least. My concern is long term reliability. I'm concerned that this is shortening the life of the transmission by slipping the clutches too much

Interesting. I asked about issues with high rpm’s on cold starts and had that confirmed as normal with a few reasons behind it but it sounds like yours may be a bit different. I do know that disconnecting the batter clears all adaptive learning tables. I read this in the manual. Hope this gets sorted out for you. How many miles has the truck been doing this since your battery was replaced?

I think it's been about 300 miles or so, not much. I don't put too many miles on the truck as you can see. In almost 4 years its at 21k miles. I guess the adaptive learning could be the sole cause, however, it did none of this when it was new and I assume it would be going through the same learning procedure at that point.

 

[Shoran12]

Yeah it's annoying to say the least. My concern is long term reliability. I'm concerned that this is shortening the life of the transmission by slipping the clutches too much




I think it's been about 300 miles or so, not much. I don't put too many miles on the truck as you can see. In almost 4 years its at 21k miles. I guess the adaptive learning could be the sole cause, however, it did none of this when it was new and I assume it would be going through the same learning procedure at that point.

Well I’ll let you know my experience anyhow, in case it relates or helps any. I bought my truck with 1700 on it and it shifted excellent for a few weeks. I started having some weird shifting behavior after that and decided to disconnect the battery to reset the adaptive learning. For about a week the truck ride great. Another week later and the shifting returned to being a little off. Now that I have 5500 miles on it (reset at about 2500) things feel quite a bit better. I do notice the truck has good days and bad days. I also notice that if I run in tow mode for a while and switch back to normal I get more pronounced downshifts and firmer up shifts in the normal mode just like it was still in tow. Almost like there was some carryover in the memory from using tow. Cold the truck has a few rougher shifts (maybe just more pronounced) but the truck is shifting much better in normal. Tow and sport still have some more pronounced downshifts but that may be the nature of those particular tunes. So with my experience, things may take a while to smooth out. I had a rough shift today in fact when I was applying light pressure and then let off the gas. I also notice this when I come to the top of a hill and let off the gas, I get a bump when the truck shifts occasionally. Anyway doubt this helps any, but this is my experience with my “new” truck. I think programming has a lot to do with these kinds of things. Fluid level may as well, I plan on checking mine here in the future.

 

[LightningBlue]

Well I’ll let you know my experience anyhow, in case it relates or helps any. I bought my truck with 1700 on it and it shifted excellent for a few weeks. I started having some weird shifting behavior after that and decided to disconnect the battery to reset the adaptive learning. For about a week the truck ride great. Another week later and the shifting returned to being a little off. Now that I have 5500 miles on it (reset at about 2500) things feel quite a bit better. I do notice the truck has good days and bad days. I also notice that if I run in tow mode for a while and switch back to normal I get more pronounced downshifts and firmer up shifts in the normal mode just like it was still in tow. Almost like there was some carryover in the memory from using tow. Cold the truck has a few rougher shifts (maybe just more pronounced) but the truck is shifting much better in normal. Tow and sport still have some more pronounced downshifts but that may be the nature of those particular tunes. So with my experience, things may take a while to smooth out. I had a rough shift today in fact when I was applying light pressure and then let off the gas. I also notice this when I come to the top of a hill and let off the gas, I get a bump when the truck shifts occasionally. Anyway doubt this helps any, but this is my experience with my “new” truck. I think programming has a lot to do with these kinds of things. Fluid level may as well, I plan on checking mine here in the future.

I may try to do the Ford Transmission Procedure and see if that clears up some of the issues. My drive to work and home is only 2 miles and is barely enough time for the truck to warm up lol I'm sure this doesn't help the situation

 

[Shoran12]

I may try to do the Ford Transmission Procedure and see if that clears up some of the issues. My drive to work and home is only 2 miles and is barely enough time for the truck to warm up lol I'm sure this doesn't help the situation

Yeah that could very well be it. Who knows. You can try the learning and if possible drive it for a few hours on a day where you have some time. I drive 70 miles a day and mines taken a long time so it could be they’re just slow learners. I’ve read some posts say their trucks took 10,000 miles to really feel like they should. That could be the driver adapting as well. Keep us posted buddy.

 

[9zero1790]

Yeah it's annoying to say the least. My concern is long term reliability. I'm concerned that this is shortening the life of the transmission by slipping the clutches too much




I think it's been about 300 miles or so, not much. I don't put too many miles on the truck as you can see. In almost 4 years its at 21k miles. I guess the adaptive learning could be the sole cause, however, it did none of this when it was new and I assume it would be going through the same learning procedure at that point.

i m sure it is. mine did the odd rough shift once in a while. i got the ford performance tune and it did it even less. now at 26k it does it every time i drive it and the delay to shift and thud with shift is worse than before. i feel the thud on down shifts also.
heres a fun but sad one to try.
with truck cold like left sitting overnight start it up and put it in sport mode while still stopped, dont move. then push the up button to shift "manually" while still in sport mode on the gear selector so you can see what gear you are in on the dash display. it will likely show second gear. but as we are at a stop we want to start from in 1st gear. so still stopped and not moving push the down shift button to get into 1st gear. id bet you get the same long delay and then heavy truck shaking thud i do. clearly indicates something more is wrong that computer issues as we were already in a forward gear in the first place and have not moved at all so no slack or mismatch between gears or drive line should exist. but it does... mine will do it 3 or 4 times in a row until the trucks up to temp.

 

[LightningBlue]

i m sure it is. mine did the odd rough shift once in a while. i got the ford performance tune and it did it even less. now at 26k it does it every time i drive it and the delay to shift and thud with shift is worse than before. i feel the thud on down shifts also.
heres a fun but sad one to try.
with truck cold like left sitting overnight start it up and put it in sport mode while still stopped, dont move. then push the up button to shift "manually" while still in sport mode on the gear selector so you can see what gear you are in on the dash display. it will likely show second gear. but as we are at a stop we want to start from in 1st gear. so still stopped and not moving push the down shift button to get into 1st gear. id bet you get the same long delay and then heavy truck shaking thud i do. clearly indicates something more is wrong that computer issues as we were already in a forward gear in the first place and have not moved at all so no slack or mismatch between gears or drive line should exist. but it does... mine will do it 3 or 4 times in a row until the trucks up to temp.

Interesting! I'll try that and see what happens. You should get it into the dealer at some point before the warranty is up just in case you have any major issues in the future. Get a paper trail that you attempted to remedy the issues while still under warranty. That's basically my approach. I was considering the Ford tune but I honestly never thought the truck needed more power and I drive it like a granny most of the time anyway.

 

[Msfitoy]

The drop in RPM in the beginning is me lifting the throttle, attempting to let the transmission figure itself out

The first time I experienced 1st to 2nd hanging and violent slam...I came a to a complete stop and it was stuck in 7th! Eventually, it went to first...things just progressively got worse from there...I'm assuming you're under warranty so have it look it ASAP...mine was way over at 95K so I had little choice but hope it'd fix itself...it will not fix itself...

 

[9zero1790]

Interesting! I'll try that and see what happens. You should get it into the dealer at some point before the warranty is up just in case you have any major issues in the future. Get a paper trail that you attempted to remedy the issues while still under warranty. That's basically my approach. I was considering the Ford tune but I honestly never thought the truck needed more power and I drive it like a granny most of the time anyway.

im hoping to have a dealer call me monday with a date to bring it in. I wish we had the manual transmission that the bronco has - not only would we not have these issues but the driving experience overall would be better.

 

[9zero1790]

The first time I experienced 1st to 2nd hanging and violent slam...I came a to a complete stop and it was stuck in 7th! Eventually, it went to first...things just progressively got worse from there...I'm assuming you're under warranty so have it look it ASAP...mine was way over at 95K so I had little choice but hope it'd fix itself...it will not fix itself...

id be semi satisfied if i made it to 95k. so bummed about the 5g. its a sunny day here and things are calm. i should be out playing on the river sand bars or finding new trails ?

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